


Strip Poker

by shinra_archives



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Strip Poker, Stripping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:22:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29106288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinra_archives/pseuds/shinra_archives
Summary: Reno is bored, Rude brings a solution.
Relationships: Reno/Rude (Compilation of FFVII)
Kudos: 10





	Strip Poker

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published on October 28th, 2007.
> 
> This is not my work. The original author is engel_cain on Livejournal(.)com. This account's purpose is to archive and preserve the original author's work on AO3 in its entirety. This account does not take any credit or ownership of the original work. Please contact if you are the original author and would like this work removed from AO3.

Even when the lights were on in the new and improved Shinra-owned building, and Reno meant that last bit as sarcastic as he could, the place looked gloomy and dark. It was as if the chrome walls absorbed any luminosity and because of the sheer size of the place the ceiling was not even in full view. The neon-lighting, designed expertly to look a pale yellow instead of a seizure inducing white, were all placed on the wall neatly eight feet, which was three feet too far, apart from each other, shining downward. They, whoever they were, attached a metal shade to boot so that it only shone towards the ground directly underneath. As tall as an average human was, Reno therefore could not walk pressed flat along the walls, but was forced to saunter down the middle of the dark abandoned hallways on the iron grate like some sort of freak of nature. Sighing heavily, he made his way to the main storage lot, echoes off the heels of his shoes on the iron still ringing in his ears as he sat down on a random wooden crate and lit a cigarette.

Guard this place, huh, sure he would. If someone would want to sneak in here, god knows why, they would manage to sneak up to him in no time from the sides. And he was mad if he was going to do his rounds through those narrow long hallways where anyone or anything could hang over his head and he would only see it coming when it landed on top of him. He was loyal, very loyal, but he wasn’t stupid and the nameless thing from beyond the abyss scared him hell of a lot more than fighting to the death with a man or monster.

“Hmm.” A voice said behind him, and Reno’s heart stopped and for half a second as his stomach tried to claw its way out of his mouth and at the same time do the twist.

“Goddamn it Rude!” He turned around and hit the man full in the shoulder with his nightstick. Rude didn’t budge. “Haven’t I told ye a million times not to sneak up on me, what the hell do ye think ye were doing, eh? Yer gonna to give me a heart attack one of these days, ye know. Jesus.”

Rude cracked his neck, which was nonchalance, Reno knew, and not a death threat as most people assumed.

“Well? Why’re ye here and how the hell’d ye find me anyway, I lost the damn exit hours ago.” He said, collapsing on the crate again and taking another crumpled, actually broken, cigarette from his front pocket. He fidgeted with it slightly, broke half off and attempted to light it with a couple of thousand volts when Rude grabbed his wrist so hard the nightstick dropped to the ground.

“Aw, man, the hell? That hurts.” He whined, making a big show of rubbing his wrist even after Rude had lit the cigarette for him with a lighter. “Ye really need to work on those people skills, ye know.” He animated his point in the air with his cigarette. “Otherwise yer only friend’s gonna be me till the day ye die.”

Rude stood in front of him and patted himself on the hips, ass and finally went on a quest in the vast number of inside pockets he had in his jacket.

“Hmm? What ye got in there then?” Reno asked, leaning back on his elbows.

It took some time before Rude had found what he was looking for, but finally he thrust out his arm and held out a pack of cards two inches in front of Reno’s face.

“Ho, cards? Really.” Reno smirked. Rude’s lip curled slightly up in the right corner of his mouth. It was not uncommon for Rude to seek him out when he was posted somewhere on his own. They were used to working as a team and on the rare occasions they were given completely different tasks they would usually find an excuse to at least snag up one night of binge drinking in between visits. Reno took a long drag from his cigarette and started shuffling while Rude arranged the crates so they had a makeshift table to work on.

“Rude, really man, ye know me too well.” Reno started as he dealt. “I was bored out of my mind, ye know. This job really sucks, man, I feel so underappreciated. It’s not like they cannot hire one of the villagers to sit here ‘n guard this shit, right?”

Rude nodded and took his hand.

“Exactly.” Reno continued. “I mean, who decided on this anyway, huh? Who’d I piss off to earn me this dead end job in the middle o’ nowhere? Ye think the chief’s still holdin’ a grudge over that thang the other week?”

He slapped down a card when Rude shrugged and the game was on. The terrible lighting that shone more on Reno than on Rude was now blocked by a grey and blue wall of smoke lingering around the two men. Reno’s constant high-pitched drawl and the cards was the only sound that could be heard and because the storage room was so big it seemed as if every single scrape of cardboard on cardboard echoed on forever. Reno knew full well what it did to his voice.

“Hah! Gotcha!” He exclaimed when he finally won a hand. Rude took a deep breath and reached for the cards again, but Reno slapped him on the wrist. “No, no, now that I am on a winnin’ streak,” Rude raised one eyebrow very slowly, “Ah shut up, Rude. I’m just sayin’ we up the ante a little, huh?”

Rude shrugged. Reno grinned.

“Okay, loser o’ this round sponsors our next bar brawl.”

Rude pressed his lips to a thin line.

“Shut up.” Reno said. “I so pay ye back, ok fine fine, loser has to tell the chief his hair’s got split ends.”

Rude chuckled and dealt and won.

“Well, how ‘bout loser has to ask Elena if she gained weight?”

Rude sucked in his breath between his teeth but dealt anyway. He lost. Reno laughed mercilessly for the same amount of time the game had lasted.

“Loser has to go and steal Reeve’s remote.”

“Loser has to go to Strife’s orphanage and try to adopt.”

“Loser has to dance, sexily, in the canteen.”

“Loser has to proclaim undyin’ love for the President.”

Reno was going to have a very busy day tomorrow and Rude, for all his stoic manliness, was most definitely smiling broadly at the moment.

“Aaah enough of this.” Reno said and threw his new hand down. “I am all outta ideas an’ there’s only so much public humiliation I can think of, ye know.”

Rude put down his cards and cocked his head.

“Right back at ye.” Reno said, tilting his chin in the air. “Come up with somethin’ else then.”

Rude frowned slightly, gathered his cards and grinned.

“Strip poker.”

“Huh?” Reno said, putting a hand over his ear. “Hadn’t we already covered that in the sexy canteen dance?”

Rude shook his head and pointed at the floor next to him.

“Here.”

Reno frowned too now, his cigarette hanging loosely between his lips. It wasn’t public humiliation, besides he always thought it wasn’t humiliating a long as he didn’t felt ashamed. And he rarely did, which was why he was looking forward to people choking on the food in the canteen tomorrow. This strip poker idea was just lewd really. Perverse; it was one man asking another man to take off a piece of clothing in a secluded dark room in the form of a game. In essence it was almost asking a sexual favour.

“I like it!” He said, sitting up and grabbing his hand. “Loser takes off a piece of clothing!”

Rude grinned even wider and slapped down three of a kind.

Reno’s tie went first, then his jacket.

Rude’s tie.

Reno’s belt, Reno’s hairband, Reno’s shirt.

Rude’s sunglasses, to which Reno protested loudly as they had been on top of his head and useless all night and claimed the jacket as well.

Reno’s left shoe, despite Rude’s piercing glare, Reno’s right shoe, reno’s left sock.

Rude’s shirt.

Reno’s right sock.

“Hold it!” Reno said when he lost. He leant backwards over the crate, scrambling for a cigarette in the pocket of his jacket. When he came up, slightly red in the face, Rude already had the lighter ready. Reno leant in very close, hair falling over his shoulders. “Much better.” He said. “Ye do know I don’t do underwear, right?”

Rude merely stuffed the lighter back in his pocket and sat back, crossing his arms. For a moment, a swift, fleeting moment, Reno felt something that might have been nerves, an anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach, like a flutter and a clenching at the same time. He knew, positively knew, it has nothing to do with his sense of shame. He didn’t have any, and neither Rude, nor him, had shied away from crazy bets or drunken dares in past. Hell, that was why he loved the guy so much, because with Rude he knew what he had. He wasn’t ashamed of his body, not even in front of Rude who was so much stronger and more toned than he was. Reno was sure he was an exhibitionist at heart, so he stood, proud, ignoring the notion of nerves, undid the button and the zipper slowly, then took off his trousers in one go. He deposited them on the table as a prize and smirked despite the fact it was quite cold.

Rude nodded approvingly and Reno wondered whether it was at his guts for coming through with the deal in the end, or just at him in general. With Rude he didn’t know.

“Well, now that I’m all outta clothes, I guess it’s game over, right.” He said, placing his hand on his hip and taking a long, good drag from his cigarette.

Rude took a long hard look from head to toe and up again, before he nodded and started to gather up the cards. Reno shifted his weight from one leg to the other.

“Hey, Rude.” He asked. “Wanna keep playin’?”

Rude stared very pointedly at him.

“I know, I know,” Reno started. “Nothin’ left to lose, but ye have an advantage here, I suck at this game, ye know damn well I was the one ending up like this, ye bastard. “ He spread his arms. “Compensate me.”

Rude pursed his lips and got up, grabbing his jacket and stuffing the cards back in. He then grabbed Reno’s clothes.

“Aw, yer not fun.” Reno said. “Can’t ye just …” He trailed off because Rude was holding out his clothes and for some reason Reno got another little twitch, this time under his right eye, next to his nose. He stopped talking altogether, which was kind of rare, and instead listened to his surroundings. Rude was a tall man, a head taller than him and when they stood close he always had to look up to talk to him in his face. Now, for some reason Rude seemed even bigger and taller. It was as if the entire room was filled with his presence and Reno could actually feel the heat that came from him. He was very aware of his skin at the moment and of the smoke and odd electrical static in the air.

“Man…” He said and grabbed his clothes. “Man, don’t use yer god damn sex-appeal on me, that’s not cool, ye know.”

Rude inclined his head and put on his shirt.

“Ye better be sorry. “ Reno said, pulling the tie from the stack and hanging it over his shoulder as he looked up. There it was again, under his right eye, and in his lower stomach, a nasty little twitch. Irritation bubbled in his chest. Rude’s lazer-like gaze cut through him and Reno blinked hard a few times.

“Aw, man.” He said, trying to shake the awkward moment that was growing more awkward with every breath he took. It didn’t help and when he closed his eyes he gave his mind way too much time to think, fuelling his insane desire to find out of Rude had nodded in approval over his action or over him.

He opened his eyes again and looked up, but never really got to looking Rude into his face because the man had advanced two paces and grabbed him by his waist. Reno dropped all his clothes and made a noise that was somewhere between a girlish squeal and a girlish squeal. Rude was a big man with big hands and just the one on his lower back was enough to keep him in place. Now Reno was feeling nervous. The other had grabbed his chin, gently, far more gently than one would expect, and tilted his head backwards.

He could feel the large belt buckle sticking in his stomach, the slightly rough fabric of the uniform trousers against his legs and groin and the small plastic buttons of Rude’s shirt against his chest. Reno swallowed hard, but did not move, did not dare to move. Even if this was the perfect moment to see if he could still link his arms behind Rude’s back ever since the man went back to the gym, even if this was the perfect moment to find out of Rude had nodded at the way he’d handled his loss or the way he had sold the goods.

Reno felt himself growing warmer and warmer under Rude’s stare and the points where they touched were ultra-sensitive. The silence that stretched out between them seemed taut enough to vibrate the metal walls of the storage room until finally, finally Rude leant in and kissed him. Gently, slowly, as if he were something fragile, as if Reno did not win fights from guys twice his size, as if Reno hadn’t survived hell and back, as if he wasn’t tough as a coffin nail and scarred like the mercenary he was. As if he was precious and fragile. Reno leant in and looped his arms around Rude’s neck, pressing up against him, urging for more, but Rude kept it slow and gentile and maddening with a firm arm around his waist and a large hand on the back of his head.

God it was good.

Reno shivered slightly when they broke away and felt, not his knees, but his upper legs tremble. Kind of like when was too drunk to stand, or had run up the gazillion flights of stairs of the old HQ after the lifts had broken down. That was how he felt.

He staggered backwards a little and Rude grabbed him by the shoulders. This time Reno’s head snapped up and he glared straight at him. There was no apology written on Rude’s face and for some reason that made Reno happy. He laughed, once, twice, high and fast. Standing in the middle of a storage room naked and incredibly aroused.

Now Rude’s expression was shifting to concerned.

Reno pressed his hand against the side of his head.

“Jesus.” He said. “Give a guy a warnin’ next time, would ye?”

Rude picked up his clothes and held them out again, but this time there was considerably less electricity in the air Reno noted.

“Really, a warnin’, or mebbe buy me some dinner first.”

Rude straightened his tie.

“Yer some piece o’ work, ye know that?” Reno complained, dressing. “Who the hell does this anyway nowadays? I mean, really. Do ye have any idea how fast I need to drive to get home? I can’t even zip up properly!

Rude raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not lewd.” Reno snapped. “It’s yer own damn fault. I’ll get ye for this, oh ye just wait.”

Rude smirked.


End file.
